19.What do these ministries achieve as they serve the Lord?

They build the Body of Christ.

One of the purposes—if not the purpose—of the past two thousand years of the Christian Era has been the creating of the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is the Church, the Wife of the Lamb, the representation of Christ, and God in Him, to the world.

The Church, the Body of Christ, is not of the world, It consists of people who have been chosen out of the world to become part of Christ, to become the fullness of the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:23).

As yet we possess but a faint understanding of what God means by the Church. The prayer of the Lord, as recorded in the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of John, helps us grasp the extent to which the Church is separate from the world, having been chosen to be one with the Father through Christ and to be filled with the same Glory the Father has given to the Son.

We are as far from what Christ prayed in John, Chapter 17 as the dry bones of Ezekiel, Chapter 37 are from the "exceeding great army" of the Lord.

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me (John 17:21).

The "very dry" bones in the valley, among which Ezekiel passed (Ezekiel 37:2), were about as far removed from being an army as one could imagine. Yet when the Spirit of God moved on them they were re-created as human beings and filled with life. There they stood, the army of God, ready to enter their inheritance.

As we pass among the churches of today, and think of the Lord’s prayer "that they all may be one," the question comes to us again: "Can these bones live?"

Only the Lord God of Heaven knows the destiny of the Church of Christ. The Spirit of God has proclaimed in the Word that the Church shall be perfect and unblemished, the holy city, the new Jerusalem. Therefore we look up to God in absolute faith and trust that the Christian Church eventually will be one Body of Christ. It will be one in the Father and the Son, radiant with the beauty of holiness.

We humans cannot join two bones together, much less cover the joined bones with sinew and flesh and skin. Neither can we breathe life into them. We can and do prophesy and proclaim what God will perform. We behold in vision a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle, filled with the fullness of the Father and the Son, the manifestation and vehicle of the Holy Spirit, the revelation of God in Christ throughout the heavens and the earth. Notice the expression, "that the world may believe."

If we could grasp this expression we would have a better understanding of the Church of Christ. All mankind has been divided into two Divinely ordained groups—the Church and the world. The Church has been called out from the world. The meaning of the term church is "called-out."

The world is not of the Church and the Church is not of the world. The Spirit of God dwells within the Church but not within the world. Christ is married to the Church but not to the world. The world is not the Temple of God. The Church is the Temple of God.

The world hates the Church because the Church is not of the world but of Christ. The seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of John separates the Church from the world with terrible authority and power. The wall between the Church and the world is the highest, thickest, sturdiest wall in the creation of God. It is impenetrable and indestructible.

Notice in the following expressions the wall of separation and distinction between the world and the Church:

I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word (John 17:6).

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; . . . . (John 17:9).

. . . I am glorified in them (John 17:10).

. . . these are in the world, . . . . (John 17:11).

. . . keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are (John 17:11).

. . . those that thou gavest me I have kept, . . . (John 17:12).

. . . the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world (John 17:14).

I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, . . . . (John 17:15).

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world (John 17:16).

As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world (John 17:18).

That they all may be one; . . . that the world may believe . . . . (John 17:21).

. . . the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; . . . . (John 17:22).

. . . that they may be made perfect in one; . . . that the world may know that thou . . . hast loved them, as thou hast loved me (John 17:23).

. . . I will that they . . . be with me where I am; . . . . (John 17:24).

. . . the world hath not known thee: . . . these have known that thou hast sent me (John 17:25).

. . . I have declared unto them thy name, . . . . (John 17:26).

. . . that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them (John 17:26).

We can begin to understand, from these portions of Christ’s prayer, the awesome distinction and separation between the Church and the world.

The saints were chosen from among the inhabitants of the earth. They belong to Christ in a unique manner. They are His possession.

Christ does not pray for the world. He makes intercession for the Church—for the people whom God has given to Him. Christ is not in the world, but the members of His Body are in the world and He is glorified in them. Our role in life is not merely the informing of other people concerning Christ of history. Our role is to demonstrate, to reveal His indestructible, incorruptible resurrection Life that is dwelling in us. He isglorified in us.

Christ’s prayer is that the Church will be one as He and the Father are One. We see anything but that today. Nevertheless the true Church always is one in Christ and in the Holy Spirit. Some day the world will be able to see that the Church indeed is one in the Father and the Son.

Christ takes care of and protects His Church. The world hates the Church because the Church is not of the world just as Christ Himself is not of the world.

The Christian Church is not merely a social institution. It is not of the world. It is not just a collection of well-intentioned people who are attempting to put Christ’s teachings into practice.

The Christian Church is the incarnation of Christ, just as Christ is the Incarnation of the Father. The church is bone of Christ’s bone, life of Christ’s Life, flesh of Christ’s flesh, spirit of Christ’s Spirit, mind of Christ’s mind, strength of Christ’s strength, being of Christ’s Being, joy of Christ’s joy.

The Church is the fullness of Christ in Heaven and on the earth. When the Church has been perfected and glorified, he who sees the Church will be seeing Christ.

It is not true today that seeing the Church is the same as seeing Christ. But God speaks of things as being accomplished before we can see them in actuality.

Before the foundation of the world the Father saw the holy city, the Bride of the Lamb, the new Jerusalem. Two thousand years ago the Father permitted the Apostle John to glimpse the vision. The city is the Church, the Bride. He who beholds the holy city, the new Jerusalem, the Bride of the Lamb, beholds the Glory of Christ and the Father in Him. This is what the Father has purposed, and this is what shall be brought to pass.

The world hates us because it hates Christ. The world hates Christ because He bears witness of the world that its works are evil. The true Church also bears witness of the world that its works are evil.

It is not the will of Christ that the Church be taken from the world. Jesus does not pray to that end. Rather, He prays that the members of His Body will be guarded so that the devil cannot touch them.

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